FAQ

Drumlin Area Land Trust is a local nonprofit organization committed to permanently protecting lands of agricultural or ecological importance in Dodge and Jefferson counties from future development through voluntary agreements such as conservation easements.  The land trust is run by volunteers and is funded through donations and grants.

A conservation easement is a legal agreement between a landowner and a land trust or government agency that permanently limits uses of the land in order to protect its conservation values. 

The land trust can evaluate your property to ensure that the land to be protected fits our mission based on the conservation values, such as agricultural productivity, wildlife habitat and scenic open spaces.

Drumlin Area Land Trust partners with landowners. We are a trusted entity tied to the communities in which we operate. Our nonprofit tax status brings a variety of potential tax benefit to those conserving their land with us. Since we are a private organization, we are more flexible in conservation options than public agencies in saving land and forging partnerships for conservation. 

When Drumlin Area Land Trust accepts a conservation easement, we take on perpetual obligations to monitor the property and enforce the easement terms. We document the property’s conservation values, perform periodic site inspections to ensure all the easement’s conditions are being honored and keep all future owners of the property informed of the easement agreement.

 For the most part, a conservation easement will prohibit new housing development. Some easements are written to prohibit: confined livestock feed operations, mining, excavating and the destruction of wildlife habitat, native plants or historic sites. 

The landowner usually retains the right to live, farm or hunt along with other activities that are consistent with the conservation goals of the easement.

 A typical conservation easement encourages continued use for agricultural production, grazing, timber harvesting or other uses consistent with the terms of the easement.  Conserved land can be sold or transferred at any time; the conservation easement is attached to the title so that any restrictions will pass to all future land owners. 

The landowner remains responsible for the land, paying taxes, and managing the land. Current and future landowners are obligated to comply with the terms of the conservation easement. The landowner provides the land trust access to the property for an annual compliance check.

Only a qualified real estate appraiser can determine the value of an easement donation for tax purposes. The appraiser will consider the property “before” value on the open market – under current zoning – and it’s “after” value with an easement restriction on it. The difference between these two figures determines the value of the easement.

 A landowner may restrict certain activities on a part of the land while reserving other portions of the land of some development, so long as that development does not adversely affect the conservation easement.